Container



Feb. l, 1944. H. l.. APFELBAUM 2,340,636

' CONTAINERv Filed March e, 1942 'IM lulmu.. nlmn... www.. um.

IN V EN TOR.

Hana L Apfelbaum BY j V7 Arrom'y Patented Feb. l, 1944 l CONTAINER Huna L. Apfelbaum, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Victor Metal Products Corporation, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March s, 1942, serial No. 433,612

(o1. zoe-42) 2 claims.

not be depended on to operate with perfect efciency at all times to discharge a pill even when they have pills therein. Nor can the boxes heretofore devised be easily molded of plastic material. c

The present invention therefore contemplates the provision of a simple, easily molded container having a removable cover and a series of slotted tubes or tubular members each adapted to hold a stack of pills, whereby the uppermost pill in each stack is exposed for removal when the cover is removed while the remaining pills are adequately protected.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a comparatively inexpensive protective container for pills which may be molded of a small amount of plastic material, occupying little space for the number of pills which it can hold, which may hold a number of diiferenttypes of assorted pills and from which the selected exposed pill of a stack may be quickly and easily removed with the fingers without the necessity of touching or moving other pills in the container.

The various objects of the invention will be clear from the description which follows and from the drawing, in which,

Fig. 1 is a front view of the container with the cover partly brokenl away to show the interior.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the container portion with the cover removed and showing one stack of pills.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the same with one of the tubes partly broken away.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the same taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a similar section taken on the line 6-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. '7 is a side view of Fig. 4.

In the practical embodiment of the invention shown by way of example, the container is made of two pieces and consists of the cover part I0 and the container part II. Each of these parts is preferably molded in one piece of suitable plastic material such as synthetic resin of any wellknown type. The cover has a preferably at top I3 and a wall I4 depending from the periphery of the top and forming the front, back and rounded ends of the box when in place on the container part.

The container part II comprises the base l5 provided with the outstanding ledge I6 against which the lower edge of the cover Wall I4 is adapted to abut and rest (Fig. l) with the outer surface Il of the cover flush or coplanar with the outer or lateral surface of the base, said base being of substantially the same size and shape as the top I3 of `the cover. Upstanding integrally from the base are the preferably spaced'hollow cylinders or tubes I8, I9, 28, 2I each of a diameter slightly less than the width of the base. The tubes may be arranged in a single row as shown, or in a number of rows or in staggered relation as may be found convenient. A stack as 22 of pills may be inserted into each of the tubes through the open top thereof, there being illustrated three pills in each stack.

It will be understood that by making the tubes of a diferent predetermined height than that shown, more or less pills will be received in each tube. it will also be seen that each tube may receive pills of types different from those in the other tubes if desired, and the tubes may be correspondinglyv labelled to avoid confusion and to permit selection of the desired pill. The uppermost surface and part of the lateral surface of the uppermost pills of the stack are exposed for withdrawal of the selected uppermost pill when the cover Il) is removed from the box. To permit the withdrawal of the top pill or the two or more top pills from any stack, each tube is provided with a pair of diametrically opposite vertical slots as 24, 25 each of suiiicient width to permit parts of the thumb and nger of the user to pass there through into engagement with the pill or pills to be withdrawn (Fig. 3). Said slots may terminate at their lower ends slightly above the ledge I6 or suiciently above the bottom of the lowermost pill of the stack to enable the fingers to engage the lowermost pill after the others have been withdrawn. The unslotted lower part of the tube cooperates with the cover to prevent the entrance of dust or other foreign matter into the box. To permit the fingers to grasp the pill to be removed easily, the side walls 32, 33 of the slot may converge inwardly to provide a longer dimension at the outside of the tube than at the inside.

'I'he tubes I8, I9, 20 and 2I are arranged closely adjacent each other, the adjacent sections of the Walls thereof merging into a single wall at and adjacent to the line joining the axes of the tubes. Where the walls join, they maybe thickened slightly as at 26, 2l, to form fiat upright parallel surfaces between the tubes terminating at one end at the top of the container part and at the lower end terminating at the reinforcing, sealing and cover guiding walls 30, 3l. Each of the outer surfaces 34, 35 of said walls 30 and 3l is preferably tangent to a set of the outermost corresponding edges'of the slots 24, 25 and extends on the front or back of the container part between the slots of the end tubes of the rowof tubes. The top 33 of the walls 39, 3l is slightly' above the bottom of the slots 211, 25 but sulficiently below the top of the container part to minimize the amount of material used therein.

To provide a proper guiding, -frictional and sealing contact between the inner surface of the front and back parts of the-coverwall Ill and the upright surfaces 36, 35, the distance-.between said surfaces is equal or substantially equal to the distance between the inner front and rear surfaces of the cover wall Ill. `The end parts of said cover wall t snugly on to the outer surfaces of the end tubes IB, 2l of the rrow.

Even if some of `the pills have been removed from the stack, the remaining pills can mc-ve only through a limited distance, 'that is, the remaining heights of the tubes, and consequently are not so likely to become damaged or pulverized when 'the box is handled, as when the pills are held in an ordinary box and can then move freely about in the comparatively large space left vacant on the removal of a substantial number of pills.

of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A two-piece molded box comprising a molded one-piece container part and a molded onepiece cover, the container part comprising a base,

a row of hollow cylindrical portions each open at the top and upstanding from the base, each of said cylindrical portions being adapted to receive and hold a stack of pills and having a pair of upright diametrically opposite slots therein .extending from the open tcp to a point in upward spaced relation to the base, each of saidslots stack, each of the cylindrical portions havingl an outer diameter less than the width of the base to provide an outstanding ledge on the upper surface of the base, each of said cylindrical portions being of uniform thickness except at the juncture thereof with an 'adjacent one of said portions to provide a series of spaced recesses between the slots, each of the recesses having a pair of convex walls joined at their inner edges .by a flat upright wall, fiat upright front and rear walls on the container part each extending upwardlyifrom the .upper surface of the base and each being tangent to corresponding outer edges of the slots and terminating along a line in upywar-dspa'ced relation to the bottoms of the slots and at the bottoms of the aforementioned recesses, the cover having a top terminating in semi-circular ends, and a wall depending from the periphery of `the top, the bottom edge of said depending wall resting on the ledge, the end parts of the inner surface of said wall enigaging thezconvex outer surfaces of the end cylindrical portions of the row, the remaining inner surface of said wall engaging the front and rear upright walls of the container part and extending downwardly past said `slots in the operative .position of the cover on the container part.

- 2. A box comprising a one-piece molded container part having a base and aplurality of vertically slotted hollow cylindrical portions of substantially uniform thickness upstanding from the base, the adjacent portions being integrally `joined at the adjacent sections of the respective walls thereof, -the lower sections of said portions being integrally joined to each other and to the .base by an upright'wall having fiat front and rear surfacessubstantially tangent to the cylindrical portions and lhaving end surfaces substantially coincident with the convex outer surfaces of the end cylindrical portions, there-being recesses in the container part/between the adjacent cylindrical portions and abovetlie front and rear surfaces of said wall, the recesses being substantially lV-shaped'in cross-'section,.the slots of said cylindrical portions being extended downwardly into said wall and terminating at points in upward spaced relation to the base, and a hollow molded cover having a depending Wall en- ,gaging the outer surfaces of the end cylindrical portions of the row and also engaging the front and rear surfaces of said upright wall when the cover is in place on the container part.

HUNA L. APFELBAUM. 

